The present invention relates to an apparatus for the cardio-synchronized stimulation of skeletal or smooth muscle, but excluding the heart muscles, in a counterpulsation mode of a patient having a heart and a cardiovascular system. The patient can be a human being or another mammal such as a race horse, or could also be another animal having a heart and a cardiovascular system such as a kangaroo (kangaroo hearts in good condition can be used for valve replacement in humans).
References in the following to a patient will cover all the foregoing and does not imply the patient is suffering from ill health, since treatments using the present invention can be applied to persons or animals which are not ill but for which a desire exists for improvement in some aspect of their physical or mental condition.
Apparatus and methods of this kind are, for example, described in the International patent application with the publication number WO 01/013990.
The applicants have established that the apparatus and methods described in the above mentioned document WO 01/013990 can be used to advantage for a large number of different applications. A prime application of the apparatus and methods described is improving the condition of the heart of a patient, for example to reduce the likelihood of a heart attack, or to improve the condition of the heart following a heart attack, or to assist the patient in recovering following bypass surgery, or to treat patients with chronic diseases, in particular chronic heart failure and patients suffering from demetabolic syndrome. In addition it has been found that the treatment can be used with minor modifications in order to improve blood flow to various parts of the body and to improve lymph drainage from various parts of the body. Moreover, it has been shown that the treatment can be used to improve the general condition of a wide variety of patients, such as those who are ill or recovering from illness. A wide range of other applications are also known and described in WO 01/013990.